Recessed paper product dispensers are well known and generally comprise a cavity within a wall and two opposing recesses within the cavity walls for holding a spindle. A roll of paper product (e.g., toilet paper) is loaded into the cavity by placing the spindle through the center aperture of the roll and allowing the spindle ends to expand into the recesses in the cavity, thus holding the spindle in place for dispensing. Unfortunately, recessed dispensers can only be used with rolls that have an outer diameter that is smaller than the size of the cavity. This is very problematic for existing recessed dispensers since commercial manufactures of roll paper products have moved towards providing larger roll diameters and reduced-core center apertures. It would be advantageous to adapt existing recessed dispensers to allow larger diameter rolls having reduced cores to be loaded therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,316,369 to Phelps describes an adapter that allows recessed dispensers originally designed for cored rolls of paper product having a small outer diameter to be used with solid-core rolls having a much larger outer diameter. Due to the configuration of the adapter's spindle holders, the adapter is not compatible with cored rolls and reduced core rolls. As used herein, “solid-core” means a roll of product that has substantially no center aperture. As used herein, “cored” means a roll that has a center member around which the paper product has been wound (e.g., the cardboard cylindrical core in household toilet paper rolls) whereas “coreless” means a roll of product having no separate core member. “Coreless” also generally implies that the center aperture of the roll of product is less than that of a similar size roll having a core, although this may not always be the case. As used herein, “reduced-core” means a roll of product that has a core with a diameter that is substantially smaller than a standard or common core diameter (e.g., 1½ inches is currently the standard size diameter for cardboard cores in household toilet paper rolls).
This and all other extrinsic materials discussed herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.
Of particular interest in this application are adapters for recessed dispensers that allow use with reduced-core rolls of paper product. Reduced-core rolls reduce the amount of waste compared to larger cored rolls, while increasing the amount of usable paper product per roll. Reduced-core rolls also provide smoother winding than coreless rolls and solid-core rolls.
Phelps and all other known prior art fail to provide an adapter for recessed dispensers that allows the dispenser to be used with reduced-core rolls of paper product having a larger outer diameter than the dispenser's cavity. It has yet to be appreciated that an adapter for a recessed dispenser can allow the dispenser to be used with larger rolls that have reduced-cores.
Thus, there is still a need for improved adapters for recessed paper product dispensers.